Catching up with Douglas Murray on the CBA while waiting for action on the free-agent front

Note: Not too long after posting this, I made a call or two to sources outside the Sharks organization about the Rick Nash situation. The signal I was getting? Chances slimmer and slimmer that San Jose ends up being the next stop on Nash’s career. Never say never, but Logan Couture continues to be the deal-breaker. End of note.

While waiting for dominoes and other shoes to start falling (and, yes, I do think the Sharks are still involved in the Rick Nash auction), decided it was a good opportunity for a quick story on the start to the talks between the NHL and NHLPA on a new collective bargaining agreement.

They quietly got under way last Friday, and though no one is expecting much actual news for another month or two on that front, we figured we’d go with a set-up piece for the print edition that should be showing up online any time now.

And I figured the topic might be a suitable change of pace here until
Zach Parise and Ryan Suter make up their minds and things go from there.

The Sharks started out with three players on the union’s 31-member negotiating committee. But with Dominic Moore and Daniel Winnik no longer part of the organization, Douglas Murray remains the only San Jose representative.

And, yes, I suppose even that could be iffy. In fact, when I reached Murray at his family’s vacation home on one of the islands outside Stockholm, he initially thought it might have been about something other than the CBA.

“Better you called me about that than I’ve been traded,” he said. “In our business, you never know.”

Murray was in Chicago last week for the NHLPA meetings on the upcoming negotiations, then headed home. He said whatever bumps and bruises and other ailments he was dealing with back in April have healed.

As far as his seat on the executive board, it probably didn’t hurt Murray that he went to Cornell as the group seems stacked with Ivy Leaguers including Moore, Kevin Westgarth and George Parros. But Murray said he mostly volunteered for the job.

Everybody on both sides, so far, are doing what they can not to get into the specifics of what may be on the agenda at the bargaining total, Murray included.

“I’m very limited what I can say directly about the negotiations,” he said, punting on the subject of what percentage of the pie players should get.

But he did talk about the 2004-05 lockout that may have delayed his arrival in the NHL by a full season.

“I was in Cleveland but I followed the lockout quite closely because obviously the opportunity disappeared for me to play in the league for a year,” he said. “I was playing with a lot of guys on entry-level deals who would have had an NHL season under their belts but were playing down there.”

But Murray said the situation then and now is very different.

“It’s pretty publicly known and by statististics that the league is doing a lot better now than it did then. And I think the league has great momentum,” he said. “We’re more widely covered in the media and I would say we have a lot more superstars now than then. Hockey is doing a lot better.

“Nobody does not want hockey –everybody wants to play and everybody wants to get paid, but it’s about coming to a solution under the right circumstances.”

He — like NHLPA exec director Donald Fehr — noted that it’s perfectly legal to start the 2012-13 season without a new CBA, that the Sept. 15 expiration date on the current one is not a drop-dead deadline.

“You want the sport to prosper and do well,” he continued. “We’re on the right track right now and we’d be sad to see that go away.”

Still, he wasn’t ready to break out into a chorus of “Kumbaya.”

“It’s a give and take process. It’s for the best of the game and it’s no secret both sides want the best deal for themselves,” Murray said. “That’s why it’s been a problem getting to agreement. The best thing to do is work as partners and not against each other. Then you take into consideration what both sides need in order to feel like they’re being successful.”

Murray, again following Fehr’s lead, did note that players gave up a lot in 2004-05 when they agreed to take a 24 percent pay cut as part of the settlement.

“The last agreement, we gave up huge concessions. There’s no secret to that. We took a big hit last time. That’s how it went. I’m pretty sure no player wants to give up anything like that this time around.

“It’s a delicate situation to say the least, but I hope for smooth negotiations,” Murray said. “Like all the players, we want to play. But we want to play under right and fair circumstances.”

The next negotiating session is tentatively set for later this week.

****The Sharks did announce a few player signings Monday, though all four appear destined for Worcester unless they stand out at training camp. All received one-years contracts and all salaries come from capgeek.com.

The most recognizable name on the list was goalie Alex Stalock ($687,500), who has fully recovered from the leg injury that caused him to miss all but 10 games last season.

Bracken Kearns ($550,000), a 31-year-old forward who made his NHL debut last season in five games with the Florida Panthers, is the only player new to the organization. Kearns has 220 points and 423 penalty minutes in 407 AHL games.

Defenseman Matt Irwin ($650,000) is back for what likely will be a third full season in Worcester, where the 24-year-old was named to the 2012 AHL all-star game.

The fourth is defenseman Danny Groulx, a former AHL defenseman of the year who played the last two seasons in the KHL.

*****The Sharks haven’t announced it yet, but other sources indicate forward John McCarthy agreed to a two-year, $1.225 million deal. And Jon Matsumoto, a 25-year-old center with 14 NHL games on his resume, sent out a message over Twitter last night that he was excited to be part of the Sharks organization.

******Back to the Parise-Suter sweepstakes.

M

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.